A 48-year-old man was arrested by Mesa police early Saturday morning for allegedly stabbing another man to death after the victim had touched the posterior of the suspect’s girlfriend, according to a court document.

The murder was partially witnessed by a 5-year-old girl who had been playing outside the apartment complex in 1000 block of West Main Street, according to the document. The little girl told police she was going up the stairs to get a doll at about 5 p.m. on Friday when she saw the defendant punch the victim in the stomach.

The girl also said she was blocked by the victim’s bloody body from going up the stairs, the document said.

Police eventually found the suspect, David Anthony Stokes, 48, in a different apartment on Saturday morning and accused him of second-degree murder.

Stokes told police that he and the victim had been drinking inside the apartment on Friday evening and that the victim appeared highly intoxicated. Stokes said he saw the victim slap his girlfriend’s posterior and that’s when he asked the victim to leave.

Stokes said that as the victim was leaving the apartment, the victim grabbed Stokesby the throat and made a fist. At that point, Stokes said he stabbed the victim, according to court records. Stokes said he also thought the victim was going to grab a bottle and hit him with it, but he conceded that never happened.

Police found three stab wounds on the victim’s body, including one near his neck, the document said. It also said Stokes has a long criminal history that includes burglary, assault, forgery and sale of dangerous drugs. The document said Stokes served time in the state Department of Corrections.

Corrections records indicate Stokes served more than two years in prison on a drug charge before he was released on Aug. 27, 2013.

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